More and more vehicles are being equipped with electronic shifters (“e-shifters”) to place the vehicle's automatic transmission into the desired gear state. Electronic shifters replace the traditional console mounted P-R-N-D-L shift lever and are typically implemented as levers, which can be pushed up/down or sideways, and/or buttons to effect gear changes. The lever-type electronic shifter returns to its original position after it has been manipulated by the driver. As such, the vehicle's dashboard, console or e-shifter provides a gear position indicator to make sure that the driver knows what gear the vehicle is in.
A more recent development is to have a multi-position stable e-shifter (e.g., a dial or knob) that retains an actuator setting that represents a driver requested gear state. This way the driver can readily determine what gear was selected. Because of this, the multi-position stable e-shifter is preferred by many drivers.
There are times, however, that the gear selected by the electronic shifter will not match the vehicles actual gear position. This may occur when the operator attempts a gear change that the vehicle is programmed not to make (e.g., to prevent an unintended condition or damage to the transmission). For example, a vehicle is often programmed to prevent it from being placed into reverse (R) from drive (D) when the vehicle's forward speed is above a certain speed threshold. When this happens, the electronic shifter's gear selection will not match the actual transmission gear. Accordingly, there is a need for improvement in the art.